Posts Tagged ‘chartered aircraft’
GA Contributes on the Ground
What is General Aviation? Mainstream media tells you that it is toys for the super-wealthy, chariots for the elite, excess for pampered executives. Our purpose with Plane Conversations is to tell you that mainstream media is (we’ll be generous here) mistaken.
We’ve shown you how corporate flight departments along with personal and chartered aircraft can save on the actual hard costs of travel. We’ve demonstrated the savings you can find on a balance sheet. We’ve talked how, yes, these are sometimes the toys of the very wealthy who have worked for the privilege of aircraft ownership. But, we’ve also talked about the small business owner who uses his personal aircraft as an essential business tool. We’ve demonstrated how general aviation contributes to mankind, specifically, how private aircraft were used to move tons of aid and NGO aid workers into Haiti. Now, we’d like to tell you a little about how general aviation contributes on the ground here in Middle Tennessee.
In the May 2010 floods in the Nashville area, Smyrna Air Center collected and distributed clothes, food, cleaning supplies, even televisions to hundreds of affected families. McKenna Saunders, Director of Marketing, oversaw the collection and distribution of all items. She said, “The most emotional moment for me was when I met a distraught mother who came into Smyrna Air Center to pick up donation items for her family. I helped her pick out boxes and boxes of goods as she tried to hold back tears, and when we came across a box of baby food, diapers, and wet wipes, her face lit up, and she started screaming with excitement! That’s when it really hit me that people are in desperate need of even the simplest of daily necessities.”
The Smyrna/Rutherford County Airportis very active in community support projects like Meals on Wheels and clothing drives. Each Fall, the airport collects new and gently used winter clothing for children attending the John Coleman Elementary School in Smyrna. The school was originally constructed to serve the children of personnel stationed at Sewart Air Force Base, which became the Smyrna/Rutherford County Airport. Airport Manager Lois Vallance said, “When the Airport Authority was looking for avenues of community service, it only made sense to adopt John Coleman School.” For the Meals on Wheels program, Vallance added, “Some Airport Authority employees and other volunteers are on a rotating weekly schedule to provide assistance to the Meals on Wheels program. Whether its packaging the meals, delivering to a prescribed route–and sometimes staying to chat a few minutes–the volunteers are always as touched as those who receive the hot food.”
CFM employee Shad Holloman (L) with a group working in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Employees at Corporate Flight Management are active in Habitat for Humanity builds and recently were able to volunteer helping out at Feed America First, which provides food to other relief organizations to distribute to rural populations that need a little help. According to Executive Director Tom Henry, this Middle Tennessee facility will distribute some five million pounds of food this year to the hungry just in this area. It was an eye-opening experience to see that we don’t have to look far from home to find people who need a hand. Employee spouses and children also pitched in to repackage beans and rice. Iowa native and recent Tennessee transplant Amber Sulzner said, “I thought this was a really good experience for us all to have a chance to give back to people who are less fortunate in our communities. I wasn’t aware of how many families this organization helped and the amount of food that went in and out of the warehouse on a weekly basis. Overall I felt this was a very good experience and I am now a pro at filling ziplock bags with rice. I also look forward to us hopefully helping this organization again and have even more volunteers.”
So, what is General Aviation? Are we an industry existing in the rarified air of the ivory towers? Not even close. We exist in local and global communities that experience disasters and need. And we do our part to help in those communities whenever we can.
(L-R) Amber Sulzner, Doug Cate, Jon Anne Doty, Jaegar Doty, Jeremy Gillard, Ken Dalton, Bill Allen, Tim Merenda, Melanie Howell, Annette Morton, Debbie Cate, David Augustin, Rachel Charlize, Jerome Vele Reece.
Is What We Offer Discretionary? Or Unnecessary?
- A New Day at the Capitol
A few months ago my business partner, David, and I were sitting in the office of a congressman in Washington, DC. We weren’t looking for a hand-out, only some relief from additional taxes on our business in the form of new user fees and more fuel taxes. We were also seeking relief from the burdens and costs of pending security regulations at a time when our industry is fighting through a downturn in the economy. We were excited about the opportunity to plead our case to this influential politician and were hoping for a sympathetic ear. Even if the politicians don’t do anything about our problems, at least we feel better. Instead, what we got was more like an unexpected slap in the face.
The good congressman’s response was something to the effect that “we should have known better getting into an industry that was discretionary in nature and in fact was really not a necessary business for anyone. Why should anyone really need to use private jet aircraft when you have good airlines like Southwest Airlines that are cheap, on time, safe and reliable?” Once I recovered from the initial shock, I pointed out how we contribute to the economy, create good paying jobs, how we enhance business efficiency by saving time, etc…. For every point I made there was a come-back: “You guys are really just serving the rich folks and if they can’t afford to use you because of an economic downturn, then tough!” Finally, I dropped the matter out of politeness and respect for the office of a member of the U.S. Congress.
Since that meeting I have come back again and again to the charge made against us that day. Is the private jet travel business a discretionary business? Are we really necessary for our customers? After further thought, I concluded that the good congressman has apparently not been out visiting in the parts of our country that don’t get the good Southwest Airlines service we get in Nashville. The breakdown for his flights between Baltimore and Nashville may look like this:
- seven available non-stop, daily flights
- fare as little as $220.00
- Nashville airport less than 30 miles from home
- Trip duration – around two hours.
However, if his constituency were to be centered in Pinedale, Wyoming, his flights would look more like this:
- several available connecting, daily flights
- fare a minimum of $400
- Jackson Hole airport 87 mountainous miles from home
- Trip duration – are you ready for this? – a minimum of nearly 10 hours.
From this illustration, the cost of eight hours of the congressman’s time makes the chartered aircraft less “discretionary” than efficient. Examples of the hard-to-get-to places are numerous; so, what about them? Over 5,000 communities out there in our country have airports. About 500 of them get any type of airline service at all, many with very limited service. To me, that looks like a gap of about 90% between mass air transit service and the communities out there who are trying to reach markets and create jobs. Is it discretionary and unnecessary to fill that gap?